MacLeod Andrews (who keeps impressing me, but also keeps reminding me of Hugh Jackman, if Jackman had spent many years not eating well enough to get all of his vitamins) plays Wyatt, a man who ends up spending some time with a good friend, Christian (Evan Dumouchel). The two men have something in common, things have recently taken a bit of a downhill turn in contrast to where they wanted their lives to go, but there's one big difference. Wyatt is receiving messages that are warning him against people around him being infected and turned into evil creatures. He has weapons, he has a plan, and he needs to get some corrosive acid to deal with the upcoming "war".
As he has proven with pretty much every movie I have seen him in, MacLeod Andrews is one of the best actors working today. I don't do hyperbole. I really believe that. Whether that's due to him picking roles/projects that he knows he's a great fit for or whether it is his innate talent is another matter. He's a big positive here, portraying a troubled man who is growing increasingly terrified by a world due to change around him, yet also worrying that he cannot trust his own mind. He's complemented by Dumouchel, who has the lesser role, but becomes essential as a friend at a low point willing to put his complete faith in someone who doesn't have complete faith in himself. You also get a wonderful turn from Margaret Ying Drake, playing Mara, someone who works with Dumouchel and may be interested in him on a more personal level.
The other thing about the lead performance from Andrews is that you always feel the threat bubbling away just under the surface. He's a lovely man, but believing what he believes makes it feel like just a matter of time before he seriously hurts someone, working under the impression (real or false) that they are no longer an actual person. Not only does this make for an effective and tense bit of horror, albeit not one for those needing bloodshed and death every ten minutes, but it's also a very honest depiction of someone doing their best to hold things together while their brain tries to convince them to do something that they know will lead them into some big trouble. Many of us have been in that situation, even if it's to a much lesser extent (either through mental health issues or mental health being temporarily altered by various drugs, including alcohol).
Although Blackshear allows himself the luxury of ambiguity and atmospheric creepiness for most of the runtime, They Look Like People isn't a film designed to build and build to an anti-climactic ending, as so many independent horror movies seem to be. You can still interpret things in a different way if you wish, I guess, but the ending works beautifully, and feels almost cathartic after spending time getting to know, and like, the main characters.
I'm glad that some other people kept mentioning this one in conversations about favourite movies from the past decade (special thanks to Mitch Bain of the Strong Language & Violent Scenes podcast), and I'll now be recommending it to others, as well as looking forward to what is next on the cards for Blackshear.
8/10
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